bacon



UNITED STATES PATENT OF ICE.

NATHAN HART AND ROBERT A. BACON, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

DECORATING CELLULOID.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 233,851, dated November2, 1880.

Application filed February 2, 1880.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that we, NATHAN HART and ROBERTA. BAooN, (said HART being a citizen of the United States and said BAooNbeinga citizen of Canada-,) both residing at the city of New York,county of New York, and State of New York, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Printin g or Marking upon Celluloid or AnalogousSubstances; and we do hereby declare that the following is a full,clear, and exact description of the invention, which will enable othersskilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

Before the date of our invention celluloid surfaces have been coloredwith tints which washed or rubbed off. Attempts have been made toovercome this difficulty by giving the article so colored a coating ofvarnish or colorless celluloid; but this, although it overcame thedifficulty to some extent, did not entirely do so, as the varnish andcolor could be readily scraped oft. Besides this it added considerablyto the expense of manufacture.

Celluloid had also been colored in the mass by the addition of variouspigments, so as to make one uniform color throughout, or by partiallymixing the pigments and celluloid a cloudy or mottled appearance hadbeen produced, which, although durable, was not capable of being used toproduce regular designs.

The object of our invention is to enable figures or designs or lettersin tints or colors to be permanently printed or marked upon surfacescomposed wholly or in part of celluloid or of similar substances, suchas Xyloidin.

In the specification dated this day, and to be filed simultaneouslyherewith, we have described one mode of accomplishing this result.

According to the present invention we accomplish this result bydissolving aniline colors in carbolic acid, adding to such carbolic acideither alcohol alone or ether alone, substantially as hereinafterdescribed.

Carbolic acid is a solvent both of aniline colors and of celluloid, andwhen the solvent above described has evaporated, after decoratin g thecelluloid surface with colors, such colors will be found to beintimately united with the celluloid without injury to the substance ofthe celluloid.

A proper mode of carrying out our invention is as follows: We dissolvetwo grains of aniline color-purple, red, blue, or other colorin one dramof carbolic acid and add 0 ereto an equal portion of either alcohol orether, orlioth. The liquid coloring-matter thus prepared may be used fordecorating celluloid surfaces either by printing or with a brush or pen.

We do not intend to limit ourselves closely to the proportionsabovenamed. The proportion of the color to the solvent can be variedwithin reasonable limits, as may be also the relative proportions of thecarbolic acid and the alcohol or ether, such proportions affecting theintensity of the color or tint produced and the rapidity of drying andabsorption.

It is obvious that any color which is soluble in carbolic acid, andwhich, when so dissolved, is not injurious to the surface of thecelluloid, may be substituted for the aniline colors.

We do not in this application claim the use of ether or alcohol, or bothcombined, as a solvent for celluloid; nor do we claim in thisapplication the ornamentation of celluloid by securing the incorporationof colors with the surface by the use of either ether or alcohol, unlesscarbolic acid is also used.

Having fully described our invention, that which we desire to claim, andsecure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The process of decorating surfaces composed wholly or in part ofcelluloid or its equivalent by the application of aniline or equivalentcolors dissolved in carbolic acid and ether, and applied substantiallyas described.

2. The process of decorating surfaces composed wholly or in part ofcelluloid or its equivalent by the application of aniline or equivalentcolors dissolved in carbolic acid and alcohol, and applied substantiallyas described.

Witness our hands this 29th day of January, 1880.

NATHAN HART. ROBERT A. BACON.

Witnesses ARTHUR S. HENDRICKS, MICHAEL H. UARDOZO.

